The Formula of Love
by Izzu
Summary: (Detective) Galileo. Revised. She'd waited almost six years without much result. Another year wouldn't have made any difference. But still, one can't help wondering...
1. Chapter 1

_"Why don't we insert it into an equation: ax + bx + c = love. It cannot be solved."_

 _"How about the area of a triangle? The width of base times height divided by 'love'. Or if it's a circle, radius times 'love'"_

 _"The concept of love is a construct, therefore..."_

It's been like... several years since they had that exchange between them; and for some reason, right now... she suddenly ended up recalling that particular conversation. _How peculiar._

Yet she couldn't help recalling some other similar exchange she had with Yukawa, most of the times relating to the topic of love and emotions. In which most of the times would be met with Yukawa's argument saying that those topics were illogical. She used to be annoyed hearing that coming from him, yet lately, she sort of _missed_ that kind of interaction with him.

 _Absence really makes the heart grows fonder, eh?_

Pity that she didn't manage to meet any genius professors in Oklahoma whom she could have similar exchanges with. _Or maybe not, hah!_ Half the time when Yukawa started his usual lengthy lectures, most of those intellectual jargons just passed through her mind incomprehensible. Imagine the same bombardments of scientific data and facts coming at her in English, ahh... she might not be able to survive that.

Even if her basic command in English had been improving a lot since the day she first arrived in Oklahoma, she'd still have problems communicating with the locals. And people here tend to talk so fast, and with odd accents too? She'd be lucky if she managed to survive the next few months of her training without any trouble.

Regardless, it did make her wonder. How has Prof. Yukawa been faring back home without her around? Half the time when she managed to get him to have a video chat with her, Yukawa would end up talking about dinosaurs or some peculiar topic that he suddenly stumbled into. When she asked about how her replacement, Kishitani-san, had been doing so far in her place; Yukawa barely spoke a word of it. Despite the fact she's been hearing a lot from Kusanagi about the many odd cases Kishitani had apparently solved, with Yukawa aiding her.

Did Yukawa even _missed_ her, she wondered. Aside from the occasional souvenirs that she sent him, did Yukawa ever thought of her fondly? He'd better be doing that—or else, what should she be interpreting the relationship between her and Yukawa right now, aside from friendship? Should she really not be expecting _more_? Even when her heart kept missing him every free few seconds that she had?

Utsumi glanced at the germanium piece that she received from Yukawa all those months ago. It mostly served as a fancy paperweight lately, yet she couldn't stop wondering about the meaning of him giving that to her. Even when she already decided that it was futile to try figuring out how Yukawa's mind work, she couldn't stop thinking about it. She always did find puzzles interesting, unsolvable puzzles annoy her very much.

"How illogical," Utsumi mused, smiling as she repeated the usual phrase that Yukawa frequently used.


	2. Chapter 2

Her phone rang, almost as soon as she walked out of Haneda airport. Utsumi took out her phone to check who was calling her, and smiled when she recognised the name.

"Are you always this punctual when calling girls?... Nah, I just arrived. Don't worry about it... I can manage it by myself—you don't have to... I wanted to try giving _him_ a surprise..."

The man on the other side of the line spoke a few more things to her before she laughed. "Ah, Kusanagi-san... don't be silly. For the past six years that man barely gave any sign that he was in any way slightly interested in me in that kind of way. How could you think this past year would have changed anything? I stopped hoping for any kinds of silly miracles..."

 **"Why not? Don't you have any faith in him?"** Kusanagi spoke again, as Utsumi tried to stop herself from snorting out loud. **"For all we know, Yukawa might have kept his feelings hidden for so long that even _he_ himself did not realise it himself. Or maybe he did but he was just that awkward to even want to confess it to you all these years. Also, considering that you've been away this past year, something might have changed. You might even surprise yourself!"**

Utsumi giggled again. "Oh, stop it. Now you're giving me too much hope."

xxx

She's not even sure what she's doing anyway, she just thought that maybe she could just... come by and said hi. Just seeing how his reaction to her returning might be. There wasn't anything more than that, _really_.

Though she had admit, that last conversation with Kusanagi did somewhat festered a bit of a hope in her. A bit.

And then... wild imaginations started to kick in during the taxi ride here and she had to pinch herself many times to push those silly thought away. Utsumi shook her head. All those dramas and movies she watched in the past to try to improve her grasp in English might really start to backfire on her now. Why did half of them ended up being of the romance genres? But then she probably could try to blame the choices of the shows on the new friends she met in Oklahoma...

Utsumi glanced up towards the door in front of her. The sign on top read 'Lecture Hall 3', the same one that was on the note placed in front of the door to Lab 13... informing visitors as to the current whereabout of one Yukawa Manabu.

She'd left her luggage there, not wanting to have to drag it all around the university. But now her nerves started to want to _fail_ on her. Utsumi started to look around.

A bunch of other female students were chattering excitedly in lowered voices nearby and she could hear a dull humming of familiar voice through the door. This should be the right place.

Steeling her nerves, Utsumi grabbed the handle of the door in front of her before marching into the lecture hall that was already full of even _more_ female students...


	3. Chapter 3

_"Imagine a sinusoidal waveform that you have learnt. Now, applying what you've already known about the nature of the electromagnetic waves, you should be able to visualise the waveform as this plane-wave graph that I'm showing you..."_

Utsumi gave a brief glance towards the lecture in progress, as she concluded that Yukawa was lecturing about the Electromagnetic topic to his student today. Well, plenty of female students as usual. Though she doubted that many of them were _really_ that attentive to the class to actually pursue the subject as their major. Not that she cared...

 _"... in which this graph was able to convey to you the relationship between frequency and polarisation. Now, since Maxwell's equation for electrodynamics was quite general—"_

Utsumi carefully slipped in between the empty seats, trying her best not to attract attention. Yet, the moment she started paying attention to her surroundings, she realised something odd.

The lecture hall had strangely... oddly... turned _very quiet_.

Utsumi turned to look towards the centre podium, only to have her eyes directly met with that of Yukawa's. For some reason, the professor had stopped talking in the middle of his sentence during the time she tried to settle into her seat.

 _Oh... this is awkward._

Yukawa had stood... frozen at the centre of the hall, staring back at her. It was really _peculiar_ —but suppose... he might have been taken by surprise himself. Aside from Kusanagi, she hasn't actually told anyone _else_ that she would be heading back to Japan today. It was after all, a bit _earlier_ than originally planned. She thought that maybe she could surprise everyone with her sudden reappearance—perhaps, this was _too much_ of a surprise?

The students have started to grow anxious all around her, making Utsumi a slight bit self-conscious. She didn't mean to cause an interruption during the lessons— _ah, but walking out of this hall would **also** not be helpful..._

"Sensei? Is there something wrong?" a student suddenly voiced out as Yukawa appeared as if finally snapped out of his own reverie. He blinked several times, yet his gaze hasn't really drifted away from her direction.

"Oh! What..." he started stuttering, finally turning to look at the student that spoke out... before sending a few more glances towards Utsumi's direction. "Oh... did I spaced out? Sorry. Where was it that I stopped at? Uh... right, _Maxwell's equation_. As I was saying..."

xxx

The students had started walking out, which means that she could finally make her approach without causing much disturbance. Yukawa was busily gathering his things, probably trying to act natural.

"Hi... it's been a while."

He paused, and then started to glance towards her again... before muttering something under his breath. Utsumi snorted.

"All the way from the airport, I've been wondering what kind of reaction you'd give the moment I come back here again. Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be surprised or amused—"

Yukawa stopped what he was doing and immediately marched towards her, before lifting a finger to poke her cheeks. He gasped. "Ah! It was really _you_. But you changed your hairstyle," Yukawa suddenly spoke, cocking his head as Utsumi stared at him, taken aback.

"I thought I was seeing things earlier but I really did saw you and I'm not sure how to react. There was this phenomenon where your brain would project a false image in your eyes, making you _think_ you saw something when in reality the object you're seeing do not exist. So I thought that maybe that's what happened and that I was unconsciously trying so hard to see something that I—"

"Okay, okay... I get it, professor. You don't have to explain—"

Without warning, Yukawa grabbed her arm to pull her towards him. Utsumi gasped, as her face were suddenly pressed against Yukawa's chest. Followed by his arms, wrapping themselves around her body.

"—o... kay? Now _this_ was... unexpected."


	4. Chapter 4

A few weeks ago, at a bar near Teito university...

His glass clanked loudly as Kusanagi placed his on the counter. He turned his glance towards his friend.

"Yukawa... this might sound a bit out of line, coming from me... but are you fine with how things have been going around for you?"

Yukawa just cast him a sidelong glance before shrugging. "What are you talking about, Kusanagi?"

Kusanagi scratched his head. "You know... Yukawa, because we've known each other for so long... I could say that I'm _mostly_ familiar with your quirkiness and everything. And... even if my _own_ situation was not any better, as a friend... I can't just keep quiet about the things I saw clearly in front of me."

This time, Yukawa finally turned around fully to face his friend. "What're you _really_ talking about? Enough with the roundabout talks."

Kusanagi let out a long sigh. "Aii... this is so hard. Even if I already know you were like this, I just can't—Yukawa, you really _like_ Utsumi, right? I mean... _more_ than any other women that you've met before. Or after."

Immediately Yukawa started to spit out whatever it was that he was drinking before staring back at Kusanagi. "Bwa-what the... w-why did you s-suddenly talk about this?"

Kusanagi laughed helplessly, running his hand over his face. "Aah, and I thought I was that hopeless around women..." He looked up towards Yukawa. "It's in the next few weeks. _Utsumi_ , that is. She's gonna come back from Oklahoma in these next few weeks."

Yukawa's eyes started to widen. "Oh...! It's already a year, isn't it... since Utsumi went there? W-wait... how did _you_ know when—?"

"Did you think you're the only one that she kept constant contact with, while she's there? _I_ was the one in the end that ended up getting the call from her, whenever she couldn't reach _you_ online. Half the time I ended up telling her of the things happening around here since you _barely_ told her any."

Yukawa took another sip of his drink. "I see..."

Kusanagi gave his friend a long stare.

"I wonder what would've happened to you if I'm not around to take care of you, eh? Yukawa?"

"Hmm?" The man glanced at him. Kusanagi sighed again.

"At this rate, you might end up _losing_ her... you know? Utsumi might just give up on you and choose another man who _actually_ show their interest to her openly. You wouldn't want that happening, would you?"

Yukawa didn't reply back but _still_ giving him a side-glance. Kusanagi tried again, "I know that you liked her... And Utsumi, well what _woman_ won't be attracted to you? It's so obvious, everyone in the department knows it. And since I know you for a long time, I can tell that the feeling's mutual. So what's the problem? I know that you're not actually against _dating_... that's for sure."

"I don't even know what you're talking about anymore..."

"You _do_. You're just pretty stubborn to actually admit it yourself. Then again... both of you were pretty similar, in that sense." Kusanagi shrugged at him. "Do you think I didn't notice it, all these years? Even during the first few cases, you were much more willing to help out in the investigations; when _she's_ the one asking for help. Me? I remembered having to try to bribe you with countless many things to get you to do _half_ the things you did for her..."

"What nonsense are you talking about? You _both_ were just the same, badgering me for help despite the fact I'm already busy with my own work—you even went as far as pushing Kishitani to me..."

Kusanagi laughed, "Funny that you mentioned Kishitani now. But that just proves it, you _liked_ Utsumi. At least much _bette_ r than that Kishitani kid. Don't think I haven't heard about it; you might have been a bit nicer to her during the recent cases but you're quite harsh with that girl most of the time. Much more than you did with me, _or_ with Utsumi... whenever we ended up requesting your help in our investigation. I mean, I kinda get it... Kishitani _did_ have that strong overwhelming personality, but even _I_ think that you bullied her a bit too much at times. Though, I have to admit that her personality been getting a bit better lately—she's not so full of herself as much as she used to be,"

"So are we talking about Kishitani now?"

Kusanagi waved his hand at him. " _No_ , we're still talking about Utsumi here. Bottom line, don't you want to take another step forward in this relationship? Hmm?"

xxx

 _"Just do what your heart wants to do. Don't think. You might actually like it."_

He could feel his heart beating faster, much like during that _night_. That fateful Christmas morning. That night when they almost died. (Everyone else in the blast radius as well, come to think about it.) And also the night when Utsumi had hugged him. He didn't react much back then and they just left it unresolved, not sure how to breach the subject.

Yet right now, the one who initiated the first action... wasn't _her_.

Utsumi slowly pulled herself from the embrace and looked up, her face looked equally stunned. "Yukawa-sensei... what—?"

To be completely honest, he wasn't sure _what_ he was doing himself. But Kusanagi's word kept swirling inside his head ever since he saw her—he thought he might just have a go with it. True to Kusanagi's words, he didn't actually _dislike_ the wave of emotions he was currently feeling right now...

Utsumi laughed nervously. "I guess... you're _really_ happy to see me. Heh..."

"Yeah, welcome back," he muttered softly as Utsumi smiled. Yet something about that smile of hers was giving him another random idea, Yukawa thought as he brought his face closer to her...


	5. Chapter 5

_"Did Yukawa-sensei said that? That love was illogical?"_

 _"Yeah..."_

 _"Somehow... that was **so** like him."_

A chance meeting on the land across the great ocean... it's hard to believe, isn't it? But she ended up meeting _her_ there, of all places and time. Such coincidence can be astounding...

xxx

Many times she had rehearsed by herself, on how to counter the argument from Yukawa. To be the one who victoried over him, and convinces him to admit that love was not something that was so _illogical_ as he claimed. She wanted to do that... so she could finally, _properly_ confess. To confess about her growing feelings for him.

She couldn't do that if he wasn't in a condition where he could understand the significance of her confession. She also didn't want to risk ruining the relationship she already _had_ with him. She thought about it so _hard_...

...so why did things TURNED OUT LIKE THIS INSTEAD?

Utsumi immediately jerked herself free from Yukawa before giving him a look of disbelief. She slowly lifted a hand to touch her lips... and stared down towards Yukawa's lips, before focusing back on his face.

"Y-Yu-Yukawa-sensei! What did you just did! H-how... w-why—don't you DARE say you have no clue on what you just did! You KISSED me. You frigging _kissed_ me!"

Yukawa stared back at her, looking as stunned as her.

"I-I..." he stared at him in disbelief as both of them started to speak at the same time.  
"...totally don't have a clue!"

xxx

Meanwhile, at the Laboratory 13 of the Science and Engineering Department...

Research Assistant Kuribayashi Hiromi carefully stepped inside the laboratory, carrying a box full of various instrument that was needed for the day. He glanced up at the upper platform to see Orikawa and Misaki, already busy at work. He placed the box on his desk, before glancing around him.

"Hmm... Yukawa-sensei hasn't come back yet, huh?" He glanced at his wristwatch, "But his lectures should be finishing right about now..." he mused, before glancing again towards the two students at the platform.

He shrugged. "Well, I guess... we still have time. Not everyone's here yet... after all," _And no sign of that pesky Kishitani_ , he added as an afterthought. Takubo entered the lab as Kuribayashi noticed another thing that was different. Placed beside the professor's desk, was a large, _red_ luggage bag. He cocked his head to one side.

"Is Yukawa-sensei going somewhere..." he mused aloud.

"That bag has been here around an _hour_ or so. Not sure if it belonged to Yukawa-sensei though. He's supposed to still be in lecture when that bag appeared," Kuribayashi turned to look at Takubo who have begun to set the equipment ready for the next experiment.

"Didn't you see who put it there?" he started asking again.

"Nope. It's already there when we came in," Misaki suddenly spoke out, looking down from the platform.

Kuribayashi shrugged as he went back to his desk. "Hmm. Doesn't look like it belonged to that Kishitani brat, anyway. Else she should be hanging around here _still_ , trying to bother the professor with another police business again. Well, we'll find out later whose bag that was. The owner should come back for it sooner or later."


	6. Chapter 6

"...why?"

Utsumi blinked. "W-why? Yukawa-sensei... did you just asked me _why_?"

"You don't like it if I kissed you? I thought you..."

The heat started to rush up towards her cheeks as Utsumi recalled again the sensation of having Yukawa's lips pressing against hers. It was... _pleasantly_ nice, much _better_ than she imagined it could _feel_ like. She could also remember the feel of his breath on her cheek, Yukawa's scent... his gentle touch. It felt so good... that it made her want to do something—w-wait! _Hold on a sec!_

Utsumi hastily shook her head to clear her mind. Yukawa was still staring at her... but she couldn't believe that things that happened earlier really _did_ just happen. Was she still dreaming? She slapped her cheeks with both of her hands before crying out in pain.

Yukawa frowned. "What're you doing, Utsumi?"

"I can't fathom this. Yukawa-sensei... were you by chance kidnapped by aliens recently?"

"What nonsense are you talking now? What aliens?", he started exclaiming before taking a few steps towards her.

Utsumi stepped away in response as she held her arms out defensively towards him. "W-wait! I'm not ready yet!", she cried out, before muttering to herself loudly. "I know Weirdo Galileo is very eccentric, but this was _uncharacteristic_... even by his standard. _"_

She glanced back towards Yukawa. " _Totally_... unlike your normal behaviour!"

Even as she said it, Utsumi started feeling shivers creeping up all over his body. The normal Weirdo Galileo who's really dense about the relationship between men and women was someone she was _used_ to dealing with. But _this_ Galileo... somehow presented an _unknown variable_ to her. That notion was somehow... _scary_.

Not wanting to remain in close proximity to Yukawa any longer, Utsumi started sprinting towards the exit.

xxx

Kusanagi started giggling to himself for no reason, as he took out the documents and its printed copies from the copier. He absent-mindedly headed towards his desk, ignoring the glances from some of his fellow officers that noticed his odd behaviour.

His phone wasn't ringing... yet. He couldn't help feeling disappointed. Shouldn't _something_ be starting, right about now? He was _anticipating_ that there would some kind of development between the two right after he ended that call to Utsumi, but did _nothing_ really happen now? Utsumi _did_ say she was going to pay Yukawa a visit.

Kusanagi sighed as he stared at the case files lying on his table. He starting to feel rather bored at the moment, to be honest. Not that peaceful times like this was _really_ bad... but one can only spend so much time at the headquarters doing reports or sorting documents before getting restless.

His phone started ringing as Kusanagi grabbed his phone. He grinned widely.

"Hello?—wait, Utsumi... slow down! What're you talking about?" he asked, as Utsumi sounded very agitated on the other line.

 **"I _said_ , have you told or taught anything _weird_ to Yukawa recently?"** Kusanagi snorted. **"Because your '** **friend'** **has been acting very weird—wait, he's _always_ weird, but not THIS weird. I can't really understand why he would act like this... unless _you're_ the one who's been giving him these weird ideas!"**

Kusanagi placed his hand over his mouth to try to stifle his own laugh. "What did that idiot do now?"

 **"He hugged and ki—Kusanagi-san! This is _your_ doing, isn't it? You turned him even _more_ weird! You have to take responsibility!"**

He burst out laughing right away. "Haha... this is so good, I didn't think Yukawa would actually _listen_ to me. So, what else did he do—hey, shouldn't you be happy about this change? You _did_ say that you kept being frustrated whenever Yukawa acted so dense to you..,"

 **"I know! But this is too sudden—"** Utsumi's voice was suddenly cut out as another voice spoke to him through the phone.

 **"—Sorry about that, Kusanagi. We'll talk some more later..."**

Kusanagi chuckled. "Yeah..." he said before the line was cut off from him. He stared blankly at the phone display. He smiled.

Well... the afternoon turned out to be not so boring after all. Yukawa better be telling him some good news after this!


	7. Chapter 7

Yukawa tried to scramble out as quickly as he could to chase Utsumi after she ran off; but by the time he managed to hastily gather his things and ran out of the lecture hall, she already disappeared from sight. Even worse, it's already lunch hour... meaning that a lot of the Teito University students and staff would start to come out in the open. In which, it would make it even _harder_ for him to try determining which direction Utsumi has gone.

He sighed... before his phone started ringing. He answered, noticing that it was a call from Kuribayashi.

"Yes? Kuribayashi-san," He paused for a long while before cutting in the other man's words, "would you be fine to take over the lab session this evening for me?... No, it's not something big. I just had something personal to tend to, so I might not be able to get back soon enough. You should already know the details needed, right?... Thank you. No, really... I appreciate it. Please relay my sincere apologies to the other students. Yes, thank you."

Yukawa put back his phone in his pants pocket, before looking around clueless.

 _Now where should he start looking for his dear, runaway police officer?_

xxx

Yukawa tried to smile, before returning her phone back to her. Utsumi cautiously approached him. He finally managed to find her after hours of running around the campus, so he didn't want to make any rash movements. Else, like those pigeons that occasionally gathered at the courtyard near the faculty's building; Utsumi would start flying off again the moment he started to chase after her. (And they would keep going on _doing_ this wild goose chase.)

He took a long steady breath to recover himself.

"Did you finally calmed down?" he asked, as Utsumi continued acting tensed up on him.

She sighed in defeat. "Well, you caught me. Then again, I can't keep _avoiding_ you forever." She took a long breath. "Before you start talking, I'm going to ask a few questions first,"

He nodded.

"First question," she started to say, "you're not ill or something _similar_ today... right?"

"No. I'm quite _healthy_ enough as I've always been."

Utsumi nodded, before inching closer to place a hand on his forehead. "I can _see_ that..." she exclaimed, inching away again once she achieved her purpose.

"Second question... why did you _kiss_ me suddenly? Oh wait, why did you _hugged_ and _then_ kissed me suddenly? Did _Kusanagi_ tell you to do that? Since he didn't actually _deny_ it earlier when I asked if he said anything weird to you."

Yukawa chuckled. "Is that actually one question or—" he lifted his arms right away in defence, "wait... my bad. I didn't intend to..."

He sighed. "Well, I guess, because I... actually _missed_ you a lot. And yes, I _did_ see Kusanagi a few weeks earlier. He didn't actually say it exactly... but he told me to just, not _think too much_. I have to admit, that was true. I have been overthinking things too much in the past seven years that I barely—"

Utsumi snorted, as Yukawa glanced up to her.

"Really? No lies?" she said softly, before smiling.

Yukawa smiled back in return.

xxx

Utsumi shrugged. "So, what did you _learn_? After getting the first taste at kissing me?"

Yukawa snorted.

"I _regretted_ putting it off for so long until _now_ to do it. I've wasted a lot of _opportunities_ all these many years. I should've tried it much sooner,"

That answer was very unexpected that she didn't know how to respond to it. She frowned, regardless. "But before, _you_ said that love was _illogical_. That it was a construct—"

"I also once told you that I did not think that _dating_ is not fun. Meaning—"

Utsumi felt her breath catch. She swallowed hard.

"Y-Yukawa... you mean, even from back then... you already—?"

The man avoided her eyes and remained quiet.

Utsumi bit her lips.

"T-then, Yukawa-sensei, have you... been liking me and not telling me anything about it, after all these years?"

Yukawa's eyes fleeted back into focus, to stare straight into her own eyes.

"Utsumi-kun, that question... what _answer_ did you think you expect to hear from me?"


	8. Chapter 8

"It's really shocking! I can't believe that actually happen! But the professor _did_ act so strange earlier..."

"Ah, I'm so jealous... I wished the professor would kiss me too..."

Kishitani Misa stopped for a moment to try catching more of that conversation, but the girls have already started to head elsewhere as she headed to the Science and Engineering department. But even as she was nearing her destination, she kept hearing _more_ of the bits of the gossip.

Most of the bits that she got were things like ' _girlfriend_ ' and ' _weirdo_ ' and ' _unexpected love reveal_ '... but it didn't make sense. Because the gossip line seemed to refer to _Professor Yukawa_... and him with a love interest was something that didn't make sense. Prof. Yukawa having a girlfriend? Impossible!

Kishitani shook her head vigorously before walking into the department building...

Yet even as she entered Lab 13, she was immediately told off by Kuribayashi that the professor wasn't in. _Personal matters_ , he insisted.

In which Kishitani Misa couldn't help recalling most of the gossip that she heard earlier.

xxx

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Yukawa... from the earlier on, have already _liked_ her? Then...? She gasped as past memories started rushing back at her. All those times when she came to see Yukawa to discuss the cases and having to look for him in random gymnasiums, badminton courts, sport centres, other university facilities! All those times when she was left helpless, having to stare at Yukawa doing all those sports activities... looking so cool and attractive. Mesmerising her at how toned his muscles and making her heart beat faster—does that mean, that was all _intentional?_ All these times... was that Yukawa's way of _flirting_ with her?

Utsumi felt her legs grew weak before Yukawa rushed in to catch her before she could fall.

"Are you okay?" he asked before gently nudging her to take a seat on the nearby bench. She let out a small groan before massaging the side of her head. He frowned.

"I just confessed to you that I _liked_ you, Utsumi. Are you not happy about it?"

Utsumi turned to look at him before attempting to kick him on his knees. But even the force of that kick was not as strong as she could have wished. Her cheeks already burned hotter that she had ever felt.

"Sneaky pervert! You _are_ a pervert! But instead of what other perverts do, you're just chanelling it all on _me_... isn't it? All those times when I had to just stare at your body wheb you're boxing or rock climbing—and I thought _I_ was the _pervert_ one having _perverted_ thoughts on you. Ah, I'm so embarassed!"

Yukawa cocked his head at her. "Was that so bad?"

Utsumi now felt as if her whole body was on fire out of embarassment. She tried to kick him again. "Shut up! To think that normally you're already that attractive—all those female students fawning at you—and you're not even doing anything! And then finding out that you've been flashing out all that attractiveness to me _intentionally_ , ah! I've underestimated you..."

She could hear Yukawa started to laugh softly beside her as she slapped him on the hips. "Don't laugh! You idiot! This wasn't funny! You fooled me for years, dammit! I hate you!"

Utsumi gave him a glare, before scooting sideways on the bench to avoid him. She took a long breath. "And I've been doing all those reading up just to prove a point to you that love was not illogical. But you've been playing me up all these times!"

"Reading up? What do you mean? Tell me."

"I don't want to! It probably already void because regardless of the points I've gathered, you've already been doing all those other things behind my back!"

Yukawa scooted closer, grabbing her arm. "Even then, just tell me. It's rare for you to actually do a research like this that was in no way related to your job scope. It'll be a waste to not have it presented to its intended audience."

Utsumi glanced at him. Yukawa didn't look as if he was trying to make fun of her, he did look genuinely interested on what she had been planning to show him. She pouted. "Fine. As long as you don't make fun of it. I worked on this with all my heart, you know?"

"Of course."


	9. Chapter 9

_Yukawa-sensei... what was it that makes you happy?_

Yukawa looked up towards her as Utsumi shrugged. "I remember you saying that you _loved_ being able to think. That you _enjoyed_ having been able to do a lot of thinking in order to solve any kinds of difficult problems. That said... would it be _presumptive_ of me to assume that you actually _enjoyed_ helping out in the police investigations? In solving some of the more tricky cases, that is... despite how you often say that it interferes with your work a lot?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps?"

Utsumi nodded as she accepted that as a cue to keep on talking. "Then, what else is it that make you, Professor Yukawa Manabu... _happy?_ You said _before_ that you don't think that dating is less fun than thinking, but I don't think you've even _seriously_ dated anyone before. Despite all of the female attention—I'm _sure_ you know what I meant—that you should get every day, _everywhere_ that you go." She paused, before giving Yukawa a sharp glance.

"But, in light of the new information that I just got earlier... I had to wonder if all those female attention on you have ever made you happy. Or... if you don't even notice all those things but, you're actually taking _pleasure_ in knowing how your _very_ presence affected me a lot."

Yukawa grinned as Utsumi glared at him angrily. She frowned.

"Come to think of it, in all of the six years we've been working together... I wonder _how_ you've actually reacted to my presence on your side. Have to say this didn't cross my mind before since I've always assumed that you've been completely _oblivious_ to everything—but you've definitely not!" Utsumi fumed at him. "Yukawa-sensei! You said you've started liking me from as early as that case of an out-of-body experience, but does that mean... you also have been _aware_ of my own state of emotions since then? Did you? If you did... how could you still act so _indifferent_ —wow, sensei... you're so good at hiding your emotions, whoa!"

The man didn't answer as Utsumi bit her lips.

"What actually... cause us to feel happy? Or mad or sad or anything? Are emotions something not defined by logics? Is it something that we just made up... or was there a _scientific_ explanation as to why we feel emotions. What do you think, _sensei?_ And please be _honest_ about it this time!"

Not waiting for him to answer, Utsumi stared at him grimly. "I'm sure you're aware of the existence of brain chemicals or neurotransmitters... eh, Yukawa-sensei?"

xxx

Utsumi put her notebook back inside her jacket pocket. "Now that we've got those scientific explanations settled—Yukawa! Would you still think emotions are illogical? Were you _truly_ indifferent to my feelings all these times?", she asked again before shaking her head to herself, suddenly remembering something. "No, that's not true..."

She looked up towards him. "You _were_ aware of my feelings, weren't you? When I was devastated after finally knowing the truth about Kanzaki-san's fate... and the truth about the _poltergeist_ —when I cried because I couldn't tell Yayoi-san what truly happened; those things you did that time... you _were_ trying to cheer me up, right? When I got mad at you for refusing to help me clear Hachi's name... did you came to that barge to make it up to me? All those times when you—?"

Utsumi remembered how Yukawa came to check on her almost two years ago after she got hurt pretty badly. She recalled how especially _concerned_ Yukawa was at that time, even when she tried to pretend that she was fine. _Also,_ the way he had reacted in alarm, days before... when she asked him over that particular _consultation_. But even more, Utsumi recalled another _important_ memory... a few more years _earlier_.

That night. Christmas Eve. The night when Kijima Seishiro, former professor of Teito University and Yukawa's senior; _tricked_ her to come over and strapped her onto an overlarge time bomb.

 _"Professor, please run... I don't want you to die, too!"_

 _"I don't want you to die either..."_

A lone tear... started to streak down her cheek. "Yukawa... how long... would you have _not_ tell me that you loved me, if all of this did not happen? How long would you keep this knowledge away from me? If I haven't gone to Oklahoma... if I haven't—"

Utsumi started to stagger as Yukawa hurriedly stood up and kept her steady on her feet. She looked up at him, eyes welling in tears and looking like almost about to burst into tears. She curled her fingers into a fist before slamming them onto Yukawa's chest.

"Yukawa-sensei... you're so mean!" she cried as Yukawa awkwardly tried to wrap his arms around her.

"Sorry..." Was all that he could say.


	10. Chapter 10

"But you know what, Utsumi-san..."

Utsumi turned around as she looked towards Shionoya Akari, the young friend she somehow was able to meet by chance in Oklahoma. "I could totally relate to you about that. Yukawa-sensei could be so _clueless_ about things like this,"

"Hmm?" she started to say before realising something else. Utsumi frowned at her. "By the way, Akari-chan... did you happen to know Yukawa and Kusanagi before? I've only just described them briefly, but you sounded as if you've already known them. Even earlier, the way you responded at hearing their names sounded like you're already familiar with them,"

Shionoya grinned. "Well... it's a _long_ story. But the two of them were the reason I decided to become a police officer. If you haven't guessed already... before studying forensics here at the forensic school, I've been a physics student at _Teito_ University,"

Utsumi gasped. "No kidding? Whoa... what a small world!" She paused. "Wait... does that means that you're one of Yukawa's students?"

The girl nodded. "Yes, sorry about not telling this earlier... but I didn't expect to find out that you're Kusanagi-san's colleague." She suddenly stopped smiling. "Ne, Utsumi-san... what if Yukawa-sensei really _did_ like you as a woman?"

Utsumi glanced at her, taken aback. "What? _Yukawa?_ Was that even possible...? Because if he did... it's already _more_ than six years, how could he not even say anything to me if something like that actually happen—"

"But we're talking about _Weirdo_ Galileo here, Utsumi-san! His logics don't apply to normal men!"

xxx

 _"That's... impossible! Even if it was him, how could this even slightly be called anything but abnormal logic?"_

Yukawa kept holding her body tightly as Utsumi sniffled. She pulled away hesitantly, before looking up at his face. A thought suddenly crossed her mind. It was silly to still want to cling to the earlier, semi-intellectual conversation they had earlier, but she couldn't think of any other way to talk about it. "Let me get this straight again. When you... hugged me and kissed me at the lecture hall earlier, was that an _experiment_? Not just because Kusanagi _told_ you to do it, but was it because you wanted to test yourself if you could _actually_ confess your feelings for me? Because you cannot just accept something as truth without backing up the hypothesis with solid proof?"

Yukawa's eyes were unreadable.

"Perhaps..." he eventually replied after a long silence. He sighed. "Perhaps you could say it as me being a... a _coward_. I was scared... about the feelings I get whenever _you_ were around. About the _meaning_ of those feelings. I'm not sure how our relationship would change if I ever allowed you to know how I felt about you. Whether or not that you would feel the same for me. I'm afraid to find out what kinds of consequences would happen if I tell you... but I didn't want you to stop coming to ask me for help with your investigations. I suppose... that leads us up to now, in the present."

Utsumi sniffled again, before slowly wiping away the tears on her face. "I guess, that makes the two of us. I was afraid that if I told you my feelings, our relationship would change. I already did began to depend on you too much to help me with my cases back then, I didn't want to accidentally manipulate you as a mere _tool_ to help me rise in rank in the police force. I didn't want to _force_ you to help me... just because I liked you. Even more _,_ if you _liked_ me in return."

"Was that why—" Utsumi looked up towards him, "—you kept avoiding me and refusing to talk to me, back then when you were investigating that case involving Kijima-sensei?"

She nodded slowly. Utsumi sighed. Guess that one case really affected both of them a lot.

"Yes, that was correct." She smiled weakly. "Kuribayashi-san told me about your relationship with Kijima-san, back then. I realised that I might have acted _selfishly_... without realising. It made me realise that I didn't want to force someone I _loved_ to do something that they didn't want to do. Especially if that something could hurt them. A lot. Which is why I decided to stop depending on your help."

Utsumi looked up to meet Yukawa's eyes, as she stressed on her last few words. "That case was very _painful_ to you, right? But despite that, things _still_ turned out badly, wasn't it? Kijima baited me in his trap and both of us nearly _died_ in a bomb explosion. I shouldn't have stopped contacting you that time. Else, we wouldn't have been in that situation."

"But after that incident, you still kept coming to ask for my help." Yukawa reminded her. Utsumi chuckled.

"It's because of the same reasoning as yours, professor. I didn't just want to stop seeing you," She smiled before shrugging, "Of course, there was also the fact that I needed to solve my cases and you're the only _smartest_ person that I know. I'll admit that but I'm not really comfortable in asking help from anyone else but you."

She smiled weakly. "I suppose... in the end, I've always thought of you as my _partner_."

"Your old detective partner would probably be offended if he heard that. Wasn't it... Detective Yuge?"

Utsumi snorted. "Heh, Yuga-san wouldn't mind. He's already being partnered off with another officer after I left for training." She gasped. "That reminds me... perhaps me going to Oklahoma had also been an experiment. To test my own feelings as well."

Yukawa raised an eyebrow at her. Utsumi snorted, "Because of that, not only that was I able to learn some new skills..." she cocked her head towards him, "I was able to realise that I really _do_ love you. Oklahoma might have been a grand new work environment with a good share of _attractive people_ , but I didn't feel like it mattered much. Even if there ARE quite a few handsome detectives there—Chief Mamiya lied, not everyone there walked around in cowboy attire!—no one there has ever captured my heart the way you did. I guess I'm just hopelessly in love with you, Yukawa-sensei,"

Yukawa made a face at her. "Really? No one there caught your fancy at all?"

Utsumi folded her arms together at him. "Then, what about you... _professor?_ While I'm gone, have you met any other beautiful women around that might catch your interest?"

The man gave her a look of mock surprise.

"I'll have you know that none of those women has made me feel even the _slightest_ bit of attraction to them. Even when one of them was a beautiful lady scientist who has murdered her younger colleague out of spite, an old friend who've poisoned her husband to his death, or a young lady with a dark secret."

"Oh, really?" Utsumi asked testily, "Not even the young lady whom your friend Kusanagi picked as my replacement? If I recalled, she was quite _smart_ , _pretty_ and _young_. I thought those were your type, considering all of the many _female students_ that flocked your lectures..."

Yukawa clicked his tongue at her. "You're _clearly_ underestimating my taste in women. Despite that young lady's insistence that she was considered cute if not beautiful, she's still below my standards to what I would call 'beautiful' for a person—" Utsumi started backing away from him as Yukawa started to walk slowly towards her. She kept doing it until her back hit a wall. Yukawa took that chance to slam both of his arms on the wall at her sides, totally blocking her escape.

Utsumi blinked at him. "D-double... _kabedon_?"

"Are we done with your presentation, _detective_?", Yukawa drawled, leaning his head closer to hers.

Utsumi felt as if all of her blood was racing up into her head, making her feel faint. "I-I..." she stuttered before closing her eyes as Yukawa closed the gap between them.

xxx

Utsumi pushed him away suddenly as Yukawa let out a loud groan.

"W-wait... shouldn't you _still_ have other more important things to do right now, _s-sensei_? I-I thought I remembered seeing something _else_ written on your schedule today after your lecture earlier. K-Kuribayashi-san might make a big fuss over this—"

"I already told him that I'm taking the day off. It's just another laboratory study lesson after all. Kuribayashi could handle it by himself. Now, can you stop stalling—"

"B-but... did you have to do it now? People might see us—!" she stuttered out, panicking. Yukawa rolled his eyes at her.

"Lunch hour's already passed long ago, and you happened to run over here where it's quite secluded..." he countered as Yukawa leant again towards her for that really, _long-awaited_ kiss.


End file.
